Well drilling apparatus



Oct.'6, 1931. J. J. GAULT WELL DRILLING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 9. 1929 Patented Oct. 6, 1931 UNITED STATES JOHN .I. snow, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T w. J. NEWMAN comraiimfor V GHIGAG LLINQIS PATENT;OFFICETQ] WE L DRILLING ArrARA'rUs Application filed October 9,

This invention relates to apparatus for drilling any kinds of wells but is particularly intended for use in drilling large wells for foundations, such wells being as from eight to twelve feet' in diameter. Such Wells may beof any depth but are frequently dug to a depth of onehundred feet or more. On account of the varying materials, encountered in diggingsuch wells, it has been found impractical to use cutting-heads of the plow type or those having excavating teeth as the torsion on the driving shaft becomes too great. Furthermore when boulders or rocks are encounteredwith such plow or scraper 1 types of cuttingheads, it is usually necessary to stop the drilling and remove such boulders by other means. The present invention provides a force driven'cutting head having rotatable cutting devices which are also free to revolve about the driving shaft whereby objectionable features of the cutter heads heretofore proposed are overcome.

The objects of this invention are; to provide an improved cutting head for drilling wellsor the like; to provide an improved well drilling apparatus having a vertical power sh aft and a. horizontally arranged cutter shaft driven by the power shaft: to pro vide improved cutters for well" drilling: to provide an improved method of drilling wells particularly of large diameter; and to provide such other improvements in construction as will appear hereinafter;

In the accompanyingdrawings illustrating one form of this invention:

Figurel is a vertical sectional view show ing the cutter head and driving pipe or shaft: Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of'Figure 1: and Figure 3 is a detail showing a rock pounding or pulverizing tool.

The hollow shaft or driving pipe 5 is driven by any suitable means and is secured to the bottom section 6 by flanges? and 8 and bolts 9. For construction reasons, the flange 8 is.

1929. Serial No. 398,371.

cutter head has been mounted thereon. ,The

l section 6 has a gear 10 at the lower endand is provided witha shoulder 11 formingz a support for the bearing 12 of the cutter head 50 13 which bearing fits over the pipe. 6. {@The cutterhead is further held inposition: byp a collar 14 which is secured'to the pipe Gin any suitable manner. I I 1 v The cutter head 13has a central rectaa I gular frame or bracket;1 5 withbearings 16 and 17 in either side thereof. It also has arms, 18 and 19 vwhich-project outwardly from the upper end of.the bearing, 12 and which are" in turn provided at theirouter ends with. bearings 20 and 21. A lateral'or horizontal shaft 22 is mounted in the bearings 17 and 21. The shafts 22and 23am driven from the gear 10 by gears 24: and 25 respectively," r 1 v j @555 While I have shown only two shafts for the excavating devicesany suitable number of shafts may be provided and various forms of cutting, scraping, pounding, drilling or grinding devicesmay be mounted on theseeym shafts. In the present instance, the shafts f are provided with discs26 having sharpened peripheries and with cutting lugs or. curved blades 27 on the sides thereof,. as shown particularly in Figure 2. As the shafts 22 an 6.1 1275.

23 revolve in oppositetdirections the cutting lugs on the discs of the respective-shafts are accordingly facedin opposite directionsv as v seen from the end of one of saidshafts. These discs also preferably increase in diani BO eter fromthe center of the head-outwardly so that when the cutter head rotates on the shaft .6, the rate of traveloftheidiscs on the e er' m I I Iim The tubular section 6 has spiders or supports 29 which carry a shaft 30 rigidly secured therein and which extends downwardly through a bearing 31 in the frame 15. A fish-tail cutter or drill blade 32 is mounted on the lower end of this shaft and turned thereby.

When a well is to be dug, the pipe 5 is supported and driven by the drilling machine and the water is pumped down there through and out at .te bottom of the lower section being discharged between the gears 24 and 25 as indicated by the arrows. When a large pipe is used approximately one thousand gallons of water per minute can be discharged there through which tends to keep the gears free of mud or obstructions. In drilling wells in accordance with my improved method the hole is kept full ofwater whichpreferably flows into a sump adjacent to the top of the well and the water pumped therefrom back down through the pipe. I have discovered that in a method of thekind, the effective earth displacement is due largely to the thorough mixing or stirring'of the material with the water sothatthe material will be held in solution or suspension in the water.

Having this in mind the excavating devices.

are designed to cut or loosen relatively small portions or quantities of the earth or clay and thoroughly mix themwith the water. As the pipe 5 is rotated, the drill blade 32 will centerthe drilling head and cut an opening for the gears and center part of the head. As the shaft 5 is turned in a clockwise direction, the friction of the bearing 12 will tend to rotate the drill head in a clockwise direction and the revolving of the cutters on the shaft 23 also tends to rotate the head in a clockwise manner. Thisrotation is however resisted by the action of the cutters on the material encountered. As a consequence both sets of cutters will tend to cut into the surface as they rotate on their axes and there will be a rolling and churning action as these cutters revolve about the vertical axes of the cutter head. This will tend to thoroughly pulverize and loosen the surface of the material in the bottom which will be mixed with the water'and carried upward to be discharged at the top of the well. The cutting may be increased by adding weights to the cutter head orto the driving pipe and such weight .is gradually increased as' fthe well becomes deeper due to the heavy pipe used for driving. n i n If stones or boulders are encountered, the rotation of the cutter head may be stopped but the cutting discs will continue to revolve on their axes and will work against such stones or boulders and will tend to loosen them or else break them up or grind them away. During this operation, the head may be slightly, raised,-or merely supported on thesurface so that the cutters will be free to r act against the stone or boulder. If desired breakers or heaters 33, such as shown in Figure 3, may be substituted for the discs. These heavy pounding or breaking devices will further tend to rapidly pound away or break up any rocks or boulders encountered in the drilling.

From this description, it will be seen that with suitable discs or wheels running around on the bottom of the well, each disc will tend to make a circular track and the various discs may be placed in staggered relation so that each disc will make its own track around the bottom of the well. The cutting blades onthe sides of the discs shown will also tend to loosen and raise the material which will be washed off by the water and rapidly put in condition so that it will be dissolved or suspended in the water. While the main cutting proceeds on the bottomof the well, the bits or scrappers 28 will act on the sides of the well to trim the same and keep it of uniform diameter. V w

My improved cutter, head may be varied in the details of construction in order to, adapt the same for cutting diflerent materials or for different sized wells and other changes may be made within the scope of this invention as set forth in the following claims in which I claim y 1. In a well drilling apparatus, the combination of a vertical rotating driving shaft, a cutter head revolubly mounted on said shaft, laterally arranged shafts mounted in the cutter head, means for rotating the lateral shafts, by the first named shaft and cutting devices secured to said lateral shafts.

2. In a drilling apparatus, the combination of a. vertically arranged'driving pipe, a frame rotatably mounted at the lower end of.;.

said pipe, horizontally arranged shafts mounted in said frame, gears for drivingsaid shafts from the pipe and cutting devices mounted on said shafts, the arrangement being such that water may be forced through-- the pipe and past the gears for keeping the gears clean and to "assist in the drilling operation. I

3. In a drilling apparatus, the combination of a Vertically arranged rotatable pipe 'l15 having a gear at the'lower end thereof, a frame rotatably mounted on the pipe above said gear, horizontal shafts mounted in said frame, gears on said shaftsfnieshing'with the gear on the pipe, a plurality of disk-like cut- .120

eled gear at the lower end of said pipe, a

frame rotatably mounted on said pipe at the lower end thereof and having outwardly pro- 130 jecting arms, horizontal shafts mounted in said frame and having bearings in said arms, beveled gears on said shafts which engage with the first named gear, a plurality of circular excavating devicesmounted on said shafts, cutting bits secured to the ends of said shafts, a shaft secured in the lower end of the pipe and extending downwardly through a bearing in the frame and a drilling point mounted on the end of the last named shaft.

JOHN J. GAULT. 

